Male, a.
 1. Of or pertaining to the sex that begets or procreates young, or (in a wider sense) to the sex that produces spermatozoa, by which the ova are fertilized; not female; as, male organs.
 2. Bot. Capable of producing fertilization, but not of bearing fruit; -- said of stamens and antheridia, and of the plants, or parts of plants, which bear them.
 3. Suitable to the male sex; characteristic or suggestive of a male; masculine; as, male courage.
 4. Consisting of males; as, a male choir.
 5. Mech. Adapted for entering another corresponding piece (the female piece) which is hollow and which it fits; as, a male gauge, for gauging the size or shape of a hole; a male screw, etc.
 Male fern Bot., a fern of the genus Aspidium (Aspidium Filixmas), used in medicine as an anthelmintic, esp. against the tapeworm. Aspidium marginale in America, and Aspidium athamanticum in South Africa, are used as good substitutes for the male fern in medical practice. See Female fern, under Female.
 Male rhyme, a rhyme in which only the last syllables agree, as laid, afraid, dismayed. See Female rhyme, under Female.
 Male screw Mech., a screw having threads upon its exterior which enter the grooves upon the inside of a corresponding nut or female screw.
 Male thread, the thread of a male screw.


 Rhyme n.  [The Old English spelling rime is becoming again common. See Note under Prime.]
 1. An expression of thought in numbers, measure, or verse; a composition in verse; a rhymed tale; poetry; harmony of language. “Railing rhymes.”
    A ryme I learned long ago.    --Chaucer.
 He knew
 Himself to sing, and build the lofty rime.   --Milton.
 2. Pros. Correspondence of sound in the terminating words or syllables of two or more verses, one succeeding another immediately or at no great distance. The words or syllables so used must not begin with the same consonant, or if one begins with a vowel the other must begin with a consonant. The vowel sounds and accents must be the same, as also the sounds of the final consonants if there be any.
 For rhyme with reason may dispense,
 And sound has right to govern sense.   --Prior.
 3. Verses, usually two, having this correspondence with each other; a couplet; a poem containing rhymes.
 4. A word answering in sound to another word.
 Female rhyme. See under Female.
 Male rhyme. See under Male.
 Rhyme or reason, sound or sense.
 Rhyme royal Pros., a stanza of seven decasyllabic verses, of which the first and third, the second, fourth, and fifth, and the sixth and seventh rhyme.